NDC Hasn’t Been Deregistered, Our Candidates Will Be On Ballot – Dickson

National leader of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Seriake Dickson, has said the party has not been deregistered, and its candidates will be on the ballot in the 2027 general election.

Dickson stated this while speaking on Channels Television programme, Sunday Politics, against the backdrop of the Federal High Court, Lokoja judgement, which set aside an earlier ruling that compelled the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the party.

The court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Isah Dashen on Friday, nullified the 10 December 2025 ruling that directed INEC to register the NDC, following an application brought by the Peace Movement Party (PMP), which argued that it was not joined in the original proceedings despite having a legal interest in the matter.

The judge said that all parties with vested interests should have been allowed to participate in the case and consequently ordered that the matter be heard afresh with the relevant parties properly joined.

But the NDC leader said the party is appealing the judgment he described as irregular.

The former Bayelsa state governor appealed to all party candidates, stakeholders, and members to remain calm, as there was no cause for alarm.

He said the party conducted a valid primary election from the State Houses of Assembly and the National Assembly, through governorship, to the presidential, which was monitored by INEC, with both the flag-bearer and his running mate nominated.

“I assure all our candidates and members that nominations are done at the primaries that took place at the various levels.

The submission to INEC is an administrative procedure. So, the  DC is a party.

The court itself did not direct its deregistration, and no step has been taken to that effect.

“As soon as possible, as the party has said, once the appeal is lodged and the necessary papers are filed, it is a matter that will go to the highest levels to set aside the irregular judgment.

“Irregular because by our hierarchy of courts and by judicial precedence and by all that we know, the doctrine of finality of courts, once a high court has given a judgment on a matter, the court is sufficient… Anyone who is complaining: someone says it’s an untrusted party; you file a suit, or you go, ask for leave, and go on appeal. But all f that has not taken place. And it’s unfortunate.

“And we expect that the judicial system will correct this anomaly. And the judicial system, by the way, shall work. It presupposes that judges and people who sit in judgment will make mistakes. That’s why you have a hierarchy of courts.

“So, if a judge makes a mistake, it’s well within his area. I mean, the judge is at liberty to err. Still, ten years are left for the aggrieved party, in this case, for the party that is complaining, we and all our candidates, over a thousand of them, from all the assembly, all the governors, all the national assembly members, and then our presidential candidates, everybody has now acquired a valid vested legal interest because they have already been nominated.

“So, we expect that the appeal process and the applications that will follow, including the ones that will be launched before that same court, in accordance with procedure and precedence, will correct this matter. So, we are on course.

“And I assure all our candidates and members that NDC is on course. Their ca didacies are not threatened. All nominations that have already been concluded, since monitored, recorded and observed by INEC, are all valid and sufficient,” Dickson said.

Speaking further on the judgment, he insisted that the ruling did not contain a positive, mandatory order directing INEC to deregister the NDC.

“This ruling did not do that. But there’s a judgment that INEC had that compelled INEC to register. That judgment in the hands of INEC is now a nullity. That judgment means nothing.

“Courts don’t function that way.  Orders of the court are to be construed strictly. The court could have made that order and deregistered it if that was what it wanted. But the court did not say so.

“In any case, we contend that the order that was purportedly made was an order that was extra-jurisdictional. It had no jurisdiction, no powers to have even entertained the application; no powers to have made even that order on status quo, whichever way you want to interpret it.

“And that’s a decision that the appellate courts will look at. And they will know what to do. And we are confident that even the orders, whichever way you want to interpret them, will be put right in no distant time. Most of the applications are lodged. And our awyers have been doing a terrific job, and the issues are very clear,” the NDC national leader said.

On the Peace Movement Party (PMP), he said: “I would like you and all Nigerians to know this. The part that went to file an application, a motion, who are they? Nigerians should know that it is not a registered political party.

“It is actually a non-entity. It is not in accordance with Nigerian law. In this political sphere, for you to participate in political activities, you must be a member of a political party. That appellant is unknown to the laws of this country. It is not a political association. It is also not a registered political party. It is not carrying out political activities. It is not sponsoring political candidates for this election or any election.

“Nobody even knows the national chairman of that so-called association. Nobody knows the secretary. Nobody knows the office or headquarters. Nobody knows anything…of an association. And it’s even anonymous, referring to itself as a party. It is not a political party.

“Actually, that is a crime under the laws of this country. A crime under the laws of this country. Because, by the laws of this country, only a registered political party can call itself a political party and can undertake or be part of political activities. And it is a criminal offence to do so.

“So, initially, there was no legal, justiciable person, no juristic person, before the court. So, the action, every action associated with this matter, is frivolous and is embarrassing, actually.

“Look, they said, even if you take them by what they have read, they said 2015, that association, not a party, association, applied for registration as a political party, and they were denied.

“Of course, as you all know, we started in 2017. Now that they have been denied recognition, they are not a political party. And if y you check from 2015 to now, or until December, when we got this order, it’s 10 years. So, for 0 years, that association has been moribund, dormant, non-existent, or dissolved. It’s of no consequence, does not exist…, Dickson said.

The NDC national leader expressed confidence that the party will perform impressively in the 2027 polls, saying it is open to any alliance that would aid its victory.

The federal lawmaker also noted that President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are beatable in next year’s polls. Still, I will require the collective decision of Nigerians.

He commended the move by both the executive and the legislature to establish state police. Still, he called for full decentralisation across the zonal, state and local government levels to make the arrangement more effective.